Newreleases were not as strong this week as they were last week, and this hurt overall sales. However, Tinker Bell still did very well, especially for a direct-to-DVD release, selling 1.94 million units and generating $30.73 million in sales during its first week of release. Had the movie opened in theaters, I would suspect it would have been a much bigger hit than Space Chimps and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, probably bigger than those two films combined, and perhaps even earned $100 million or more, depending on its release date.
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The number of DVDs reaching my door is increasing each week (so are the number of ones that are late, or so it would seem). However, while there was a wide selection, the choice for DVD Pick of the Week was easy: Looney Tunes - Golden Collections - Volume 6. ... And
James Bond - Blu-ray Uber Collection, as well as Casino Royale on Blu-ray. One last note, as has happened more often than not, this week's list is split into two. The second part can be seen here.
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You Don't Mess With The Zohan slipped out of the top five with $7.96 million on 2296 screens in 33 markets for a total of $69.53 million internationally, which is more than Adam Sandler's previous film made in total internationally. This week the film opened in France landing in 10th place with just $816,000, but it was playing on just 171 screens. On the other hand, it added $1.66 million on 335 screens in Spain for a two-week total of $6.45 million.
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Hellboy 2: The Golden Army returned to the international chart in sixth place with $7.20 million on 828 screens in 14 markets for a total of $32.93 million. Of that weekend haul, $5.45 million was earned on 464 screens in the U.K., where it topped the charts this past weekend. Compared to the original, this film has made more domestically and more worldwide, while it is nearing its international total with openings in Australia, Spain, Brazil, Germany, France, and other markets left ahead of it.
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Kung Fu Panda slipped to sixth place with $9.34 million on 4736 screens in 47 markets for a total of $349.69 million internationally. The film is starting to shed theaters and markets at an accelerated pace, however, it still has openings in Italy and other smaller markets ahead of it, while it could reach $400 million internationally and $600 million worldwide before the end of its run. (The latter it a lot easier than the former.)
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Hancock fell from second to sixth with $12.03 million on 5425 screens in 68 markets, however, it still reached $300 million internationally since last week and now has a running tally of $319.43 million. Its best market of the weekend was Spain where it added $1.92 million on 567 screens over the weekend for a total of $20.56 million after two. Meanwhile, its best market overall remains the U.K. where it has $47.09 million after a month of release, including $900,000 on 318 screens this past weekend. With Japan and Italy still ahead, the film should become Will Smith's second $600 million movie, but it will end well back of Independence Day.
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Hancock fell 56% to $20.22 million on 7516 screens in 70 markets, however, that was still enough for second place on the international chart this week, and lifted its totals to $295.58 million internationally and $502.06 million worldwide, reaching a major milestone. The film's best market of the week was Spain where it remained in first place with $3.98 million on 575 screens for a total of $16.86 million. It is also performing well in Germany where it held on to second place with $1.70 million on 755 screens over the weekend and $33.62 million after four. However, it is starting to slip in the U.K. falling to fifth place with $1.40 million on 400 screens, but its total of $45.15 million in that market is still fantastic. Hancock likely hit $300 million early last week, and it has yet to open in Japan and Italy.
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For the third week in a row, Kung Fu Panda performed excellently on the international scene, but was not on par with the top of the chart. Over the previous weekend, the film finished in third place with $29.02 million on 4460 screens in 51 screens for a total of $273.20 million. This week the film opened three of the four Scandinavian markets including Denmark where it opened in first place with $1.10 million on 87 screens over the weekend and $1.23 million in total. Meanwhile, the film only managed third in Norway with $834,000 on 105 screens over the weekend and $1.2 million in total and it managed third place in Sweden with $689,000 on 149 screens and $840,000 in total. Additionally, the film made $3.02 million on 466 screens over the weekend for a total of $27.57 million after three weeks. Next up for the film is Japan this weekend while it opens in Italy at the end of the month.
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Kung Fu Panda grew to its biggest yet pulling in $45.32 million on 6314 screens in 49 markets for a total of $221.64 million. This includes openings in France where it placed second with $8.64 million on 743 screens for the full week and in Spain where it topped the charts with $6.29 million on 581 screens. The film's best holdover was The U.K. where it slipped a spot to third with $5.55 million on 456 screens for a two-week total of $21.57 million. It also held well in Germany adding $4.54 million on 838 screens for a two-week total of $11.14 million while it now has $20.38 million in Australia, including $3.17 million on 361 screens during this past weekend. Meanwhile, the film has yet to open in Italy or Japan, as well as a few other smaller markets, and should have no trouble reaching $300 million before long.
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Kung Fu Panda saw its weekend numbers climb by close to 70%, and its weekend haul of $40.16 million on 5325 screens in 40 markets was the best of its run so far. A run that has brought in $154.13 million so far. However, it still remained in second place thanks to the opening of Hancock. The film had a pair of second place openings including the U.K. where it made $8.63 million on 446 screens over the weekend for a total of $11.96 million. Meanwhile in Germany it was not as strong with $4.48 million on 831 screens, but it still managed second place. The film also slipped to second place in Australia, but it held well down just 24% to $3.83 million on 363 screens over the weekend for a total of $13.63 million.
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Sex and the City fell more than 40% this past weekend, but still eared $12.94 million on 5991 screens in 53 markets over the weekend for a total of $198.97 million after a month of release. The film had no major, or even midlevel openings, in fact, it's only market of note where it hasn't opened in yet is Japan, where it does make its nationwide debut at the end of August. However, it still did well in a number of markets cracking $1 million in Australia ($1.58 million on 365 screens), Russia ($1.50 million on 496), U.K. ($1.18 million on 388), and Spain ($1.08 million on 359). In fact, in the U.K. the film has earned $49.24 million after a month of release, which is even better than it managed domestically, if you take into account the relative size of the two markets.
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June ended on a high at the box office with the combined ticket sales reaching $185 million. That's close to 30% more than last weekend and nearly 20% more than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2008 was able to extend its lead over 2007, but it is still above last year's pace by less than a percent, $4.52 billion to $4.49 billion. With almost nothing but good news recently, it's hard not to get optimistic about the state of the industry right now.
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June ends this weekend and so far there's only been one film not to match expectations, or at least come relatively close to doing so. That said, none of the films have had massive breakout success either. That should change this weekend as WALL-E is tracking well above initial expectations.
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Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull saw its prospects rise in Japan as it had the best opening of the year, pulling in $13.09 million on 789 screens. The film is still earning 7-digit weekends in the U.K. and France with $2.86 million on 493 screens and $1.30 million on 739 million respectively. After a month of release, the film has made $74,28 million in the former and $35.99 million in the latter. Overall, it made $23.75 million on 5,664 screens in 58 markets for a total of $391.21 million internationally and $682.17 million worldwide. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now in the top 30 all-time, and it shouldn't have any trouble climbing a few more spots at the very least.
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It was another strong weekend at the box office, at least compared to last year, and almost every film matched expectations nearly perfectly. (Get used to reading that phrase.) Overall the box office earned $143 million during the past three days, which is 20% lower than last weekend. On the other hand, it was nearly 9% higher than the same weekend last year and that was just enough to push 2008 into the lead over 2007 at $4.27 billion to $4.26 billion. Ticket sales are still down nearly 3%, but that too could change.
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The outlook for this weekend is mixed. On the one hand, very few people are expecting this week's twonew releases to match last week's openings. However, most expect them to top last year's new entries, which is the more important task. This, along with the better holdovers, could be enough to push 2008 over 2007's pace for the first time in a long time.
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The Happening launched worldwide over the weekend scoring first place on the international chart with $31.82 million on 5693 screens in 88 markets. This includes first place openings in a handful of major markets, the best of which was France at $4.90 million on 550 screens. It also topped the charts in Spain with $3.41 million on 385 screens and in Italy with $1.70 million on 363 screens over the weekend and $1.89 million in total. In all three markets, The Incredible Hulk opens in a later date, so this film didn't have to deal with it as competition.
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Mongol repeated atop the Per Theater Chart with an average of $22,442 in five theaters, which was 17% lower than its opening. Now the next big test is how well it can expand. The second best release of the week was Encounters at the End of the World as the documentary earned $17,730 in its lone theater. Even more impressive is the fact that the film was a Wednesday release that earned nearly $26,000 in total -- had it opened on Friday it might has topped the charts. The overall number one film, The Incredible Hulk debuted in third place on the per theater chart with $15,810. Next up was The Grocer's Son, which grew more than 30% to $13,789 in one theater. The final film to earn $10,000 or more during its run was The Happening, which surprised analysts with an average of $10,220 in just under 3,000 theaters.

Another strong weekend at the box office with the new releases topping expectations, at least combined. Overall, theaters pulled in close to $180 million over the weekend, which was up nearly 3% from last weekend. More importantly, it was up nearly 24% from the same weekend last year. This helped the summer season shoot ahead of last year's pace while year-to-date 2008 is behind 2007's pace by less than 1% at $4.06 billion to $4.07 billion. Before this weekend, 2008 should take the lead in terms of raw dollars, and while it is still more than 3% behind 2007 in terms of attendance, that too could change before long.
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The Incredible Hulk made an strong debut over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning.
Its estimated $54.54 million weekend is a little below the $62.1 million earned by the first attempt at launching the franchise, but at the high end of expectations.
The Happening also did better than expected, picking up $30 million.
With Kung Fu Panda holding up well with $34 million, the weekend as a whole was up again compared to last year, and the Summer season is actually ahead of last year's pace, in spite of a relative lack of sure-fire hits.
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Not a terribly busy week in terms of new releases, which obviously limits the number of sites on this week's list. Additionally, there's only one site that was even remotely better than average: The Incredible Hulk - Official Site. Fortunately, it is up to the level of a Weekly Website Award winner.
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There was a chance The Incredible Hulk and The Happening would open with nearly identical weekends of around $50 million each. However, the box office potential of the two films has diverged lately with The Incredible Hulk going up a little and The Happening going way down. Combined, they should still top last year's group of new releases, and perhaps even help close the gap on the year-to-date race.
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Hulk Smash!
It's a week away from the opening The Incredible Hulk and it is this week's target film. In order to win the prizes, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of The Incredible Hulk.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a signed poster from Mongol, as well as Grace is Gone on DVD and Invisible Target on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a signed poster from Mongol, as well as Control on DVD and Joy Division on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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June is filled with top picks, and practically only top picks. The best schedule for the overall health of the movie industry is only two wide releases, the potential blockbuster and the counter-programming release. This month that's exactly what happens; however, almost every week the counter-programming film has a serious shot at $100 million as well. If everything goes well, then we could have 8 films opening this month that crack 9 digits and that would put 2008 back on track. Even a more conservative estimate has four $100 million movies coming out this month, but there's a lot of uncertainty involved here. On the limited front, none of May's limited releases managed to breakout and expand wide, so there's still an opening for sleeper hit of the summer. That role could be filled by The Promotion, which appears to have the best shot at escaping the art hour circuit and reaching multiplexes.
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Server upgrades went... less smoothly than anticipated, which delayed this column, but at least there are a huge number of sites to check out. Many of these sites are making their first appearance on the list while quite a few are making their last appearance. Unfortunately, while it's a big list, there are not many that are even close to being award worthy at the moment. 30 Days of Night - Official Site comes the closest, but I'm waiting for the missing features to be added before I make that decision.
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Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.